Shattered
by Mutant Ninja Penguin
Summary: After Seizure. A new family, the Golds, has come to Morris Island. When one of the girls catches the virus that made the packs virals, things go from bad to worse. Enemies that the pack thought were gone forever are back for revenge.
1. Chapter 1

**SNAP**

My eyes flash gold as I let my canine instincts take over. The pain it brings with it makes me double over, but it quickly dissipates. My 20/20 vision comes out, letting me see the other virals struggling. As I watch, Hi's eyes blaze bright yellow, and he looks at me and grins. Soon after, Shelton looks up with golden eyes. We all turn to look at Ben.

Ben was having much less luck. He was swearing under his breath, and they only grew worse as time went on. He looked up to six golden eyes waiting semi-patiently.

"I can't do it!" he growls, glaring at us all.

"Try harder," Hi says, bored. Shelton rolls his eyes. He looks up and catches my eye.

"Wanna race, Tory?" he suggests, glancing at Ben and Hi. I agree, knowing it was going to be a while, and not really wanting to deal with a pissed off Ben Blue. It sucks, by the way.

"Can I join? Actually, I don't work that hard, forget I asked." Hi says dismissively. Both me and Shelton roll our eyes at him and stand up. I bolt down the beach immediately.

"No fair! I wasn't ready!" Shelton yells after me, but I ignore him, lost in the pleasure of pure speed and adrenaline. My feet kick up sprays of sand behind me, which were getting in Shelton's face. He was really not happy about it. The sun beat down on us, making it incredibly hot out here at Dead Cat beach. I veer left until I hit the water. The water was pleasantly warm and cools my legs. I risk a glance over my shoulder, Shelton was losing ground, and Hi and Ben were way down at the end of the beach. Of course, with my vision, I could still see them perfectly fine. I was congratulating myself for winning (What? Winning is very important!) when I crashed into something hard. Not surprisingly, it hurt. A whole freaking lot. I topple backwards, my back hitting the hot sand.

"Oh god, that was freaking hilarious!" Shelton wheezes, trying to get air while laughing and panting. "You…you…just crashed…into a tree. I wished I had recorded that." He doubles over, laughing, while I turned to glare at the offending tree, then him. I whap him upside the head. "Ow!"

"You deserved that." I inform him. My vision narrows, and I saw Ben and Hi arguing. "Let's go break that up." Shelton nods and walks with me back to the other two.

"Hurry up! Try to flare." Hi says impatiently, pacing in front of Ben.

"What do you think I've been doing?" he replies angrily. Hi turns slightly and saw us. He gestures to Ben with an expression that said _you help him _and walks over to Shelton. I walk silently behind Ben and bent down. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Shelton and Hi watching us. The thought weirdly made me blush. I looked down quickly, but I still saw Hi's smirk. I ignore him and scents began to flood my nostrils now that I was paying attention. Anger comes from Ben, amusement from Hi, and curiosity from Shelton. You're probably wondering how those are smells. One second please.

"BOO!" I scream in Ben's ear and he whirls around, surprised. His dark eyes flood with gold and, after his surprise came, well, annoyance, than anger. I don't know why, but Ben seems to have the most trouble with his emotions when he flares. Oh yeah, I guess I need to tell you about that. Well, a few months ago, Dr. Karsten began playing around with parvoviruses to try to find a cure. He began testing on Loggerhead's, the island where he worked, resident wolf pup, Cooper. You see, when I found out about this, I naturally had to break him out. I mean, we had already broken into the top secret lab; we might as well help the poor puppy. Well, it turns out the parvovirus actually was infectious to humans, and because it had canine DNA in it, we became part wolf. There are side effects though. Those would be the flares. Golden eyes, heightened senses, and an ability to talk in each other's minds. I had the best sense of smell, and since dogs can smell emotion, I can too. Hi has the best sight, Shelton has the best hearing, and Ben was freakishly strong and fast. There you go; I'm going to run now.

"Run Tory! Run for your life!" Oh Hi, always the drama queen, although right now, I'm thinking he's right. I risk a glance at Ben, and he has this evil look on his face. The three of us look at each other nervously, then turn and bolts. My feet pound down the beach again, my red hair slipping out of its ponytail and flying free.

"What is he going to do to us?" Hi pant besides me, trying to keep up. I shrug and put on a burst of speed. "Oh thanks, leave me behind!" he yells behind me. I hit the end of the beach and hide behind the tree I had crashed into earlier. I peek around it and watch the three boys.

Ben had successfully caught up to Hi, and had thrown him into the water, leaving him dripping wet and sputtering. Shelton had doubled back and was hiding on the other side of the beach. Ben looks my way and I whip my head behind the tree. I wait anxiously for him to find me, but instead hear Shelton shriek like a five year old girl. Not stopping to look, I bolt into the trees until I found myself in a clearing. I recognize it as Y-7's clearing, the clearing where we found Katherine Heaton's dead body. I'll tell you that later.

Looking around quickly, I sprint to the other side of the clearing and hide behind another tree, waiting for the others to find me. My patience was, well, not really rewarded, because I was kinda scared about what was going to happen to me.

"Where could that girl be?" Shelton says, walking into the clearing with the others. He and Hi were soaked, and Ben was in a much happier mood.

"How am I supposed to know?" Hi protests, wringing out his bright orange shirt. I slip around to hide behind the tree next to me. If I could get to the other side of the clearing, I could escape…

"Are we sure she's here?" Shelton questions the others.

"Where else would she be?" Ben answers. Hi snorts.

"This is Tory we're talking about; I wouldn't be surprised if she was on the other side of Loggerhead by now." Loggerhead is the island we're on now. I sneak around to another tree, letting them debate where I could be as I quietly snake my way around the edge of the clearing. I slowly back up, and then, when I was out of earshot, run to the beach and haul myself into Sewee, Ben's boat and our main mode of transportation. I glance at my watch, it was 11:30, and I was starving. I walk to the front of the boat and grab one of the waters we had stashed there and chug it down, then explore what was there for food. I found a nice looking brownie, so I grabbed it and a can of Coke and went over to the side to watch for them.

**SNUP**

My flare disappears and I feel my normal green color seep into my irises and my jacked up senses settle. I begin to dig into my brownie, and was just finishing it off when the boys emerg onto the beach. I waved at them and they all look surprised to see me there. They start off toward the boat and climb in. Hi and Shelton had lost their flares by now, and Ben's faded too.

"How long have you been here?" Ben exclaims.

"Seriously, how did you get here?" Shelton asks confused.

"Hey that was my brownie!" Hi yells at me. We all turn to face him, and he saw our questioning looks. "My grandmothers in town, and she makes the best brownies. That was MY brownie! Give it back!"

"Fine, where do you want me to puke?" I ask Hi with my eyebrows raised.

"On second thought keep it, I don't want it anymore." Hi stalks away and plunks himself down far away from me, shooting me death glares every once in a while.

"I was-" I begin, but the loud, harsh noise of my cell phone cut me off. "One minute," I say, grabbing my iPhone and seeing its Kit, my dad. "Yes?" I ask.

"Where are you?" he asks immediately.

"I'm out on Loggerhead with the gang." I reply, looking out over the water.

"You need to come home, a new family is coming and you need to help welcome them. Bring the others, they need to help too." He says simply. I nod and hang up.

"We need to go back to Morris"-Morris Island is where all of our families live-"and help welcome the new family." The boys groan but Ben obediently goes and starts Sewee, and a minute later we are skimming the waves and heading back to Morris Island.


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Virals, or the song The Only Exception.**

The sun glinted off of the water as we hurried back to Morris. I guess I should explain some stuff. One, my name is Tory Brennan, and I had come to live with my dad a few months ago after my mom died in a car crash with a drunk driver. Neither of us knew the other existed, so both of us were surprised. My dad works at LIRI, a research facility that works out on an island called Loggerhead, which is where we were. All the people who work at LIRI live on Morris Island, a small island that is closest to Loggerhead. Anyway, the three boys are Ben Blue, Shelton Devers, and Hiram Stolowitski. Since we're the only kids on Morris Island, we banded together quickly. You see, the company that founds LIRI pays for us to go to school so our parents can work. The school we go to is Bolton Prep, where everyone hates us because we aren't rich, and we actually like to learn. Anyway, Hi, Shelton, and I are all starting sophomore year next week, while Ben starts junior year. Although, I did skip a grade, so I'm a year younger. I think that's everything…hopefully.

"Who do you think the new family is?" Shelton asks.

"I don't know, they are, you know, new." Hi replies, still grumbling over his lost brownie.

"Fine, what do you think they're like?" Shelton revises his question.

"I don't know, do either of you know anything about them?" Hi turns to face Ben and me.

"Nope, I wonder if they'll have kids." I say, watching Morris Island get bigger.

"I had no idea they were coming." Ben says distractedly, focusing on the boat. "We're here."

We all file out and start to trudge to the only town on Morris Island. We chat amiably until we hear voices near my house.

"Who's that?" I wonder out loud, speeding up. We walk past my house and three doors down we see a girl and a boy. The boy looks older than us, maybe 17 or 18. He had dark brown hair and was helping the girl bring in boxes. The girl had long auburn hair reaching down to the middle of her back. It was in a side braid and she was complaining about the boxes.

"Why do we have to do it, why can't Hayley?" she complains, bending down to grab two boxes. She starts walking, and then stumbles into the boy. He laughs and takes one of her boxes.

"Slow down, Ali! We're doing this because it's our stuff and Hayley's stuff is already in her room." He replies, shoving her off good-naturedly.

"All of her stuff is already up there, that's not fair! She has the top floor, how did she get all of it up there?" She turns to look at the boy, and we could see her face for the first time. The girl was pretty. Hazel eyes, heart-shaped face, she looks like a model. She was swerving around now, trying not to drop the boxes.

"Don't fall," the boy says while laughing. She swivels around to glare at him.

"No, really?" she replies scathingly. He kept laughing, so she walks over to him and places her box on top. He stops laughing and begins straining to keep the boxes up.

"God Ali, what's in here?" he asks, moving towards the house.

"Shoes," she says simply, smirking. She walks past the boy, Kyle, and into the house. He follows her in, and I turn back to the boys.

"Come on; let's go see what we have to do." I say, walking back to my house, the boys following.

"Kit, I'm here!" I yell, walking into my house. One note about houses on Morris Island, they are all four stories, and made of concrete, because in the Civil war Morris Island was some sort of base.

"Hey Tory, hey guys," Kit says, walking into the room. "Have you seen the new family yet? They live three doors down."

"Yep," I reply, going to the kitchen to grab a Coke. I come back to see Kit being bombarded with questions.

"Who are they?"

"How long are they staying?"

"Do their parents work at LIRI?"

"Will they be going to Bolton Prep?"

"Whoa, one at a time," Kit holds up his hands. "Ok, they are the Gold family, I don't know how long they are staying, probably a while now that LIRI has significant funding, their _aunt_ works at LIRI, Dr. Carol Gold, and yes, I think so. Did I get them all, anymore?"

"What do you mean we have to welcome them?" I ask, sipping my coke.

"Well, they invited us, and all of you," he gestures to the others, "and your parents for dinner. I'm not sure how we are all going to fit, but oh well. Oh, by the way, Whitney is coming with us." He looks at me. Whitney is Kit's girlfriend. Let's just say we don't share the same views on…basically everything. "Be nice,"

"I always am!" I say innocently. The boys and Kit snorted.

"Of course you are! You know, all of the times you've dragged us along on our adventures when none of us wanted to go, of course that was just showing off your amazing niceness!" Hi said scathingly.

"Did that make sense?" I wonder, finishing the rest of my coke.

"Of course it did!" he says, acting hurt. I begin to reply, when Cooper, our wolf dog comes running down the stairs. I kneel down and he barrels into me.

"That reminds me, Dr. Gold said you could bring Cooper, they have a dog too." Kit says once my breath was back. Cooper abandons me to go attack the boys.

"Then they can't be that bad." I decide, ignoring the boys and heading up to my room. I open my window and lean out, watching the boys walk out and back to their own houses. I'm about to pull my head in when I hear singing. I recognize it as The Only Exception by Paramore. I listen, and realize that a girl is singing and playing the guitar. It sounds like Ali, that new girl. I pull my head in and shut the window. I flop onto my bed and grab a book. I begin reading and I lose track of time. I hear my Mac ding, pulling me out of my book, and se iFollow. Ben, Hi and Shelton were on already, talking and waiting for me to join. I walk over to my desk chair and sink into it, looking at the screen.

"I wonder why they moved here." Hi asks.

"I don't know, but I think that girl can sing." I say absently as Cooper comes up to my room. The boys all turn to me. "I heard someone singing, and it sounded like her." I explain. "What? They live close by; it's not that surprising I could hear it."

"I wonder if they're nice." Shelton says, fiddling with his glasses. I look at my clock, and realize it was 3:30.

"How is it already 3:30?" I ask, surprised. The boys all shrugged. Getting up, I go over and open my window again. A small breeze drifts in, cooling the room. I was about to go back to my chair when I hear voices. They sound like they're coming from the new family. I glance out the window then go back and sit down.

"We have to go over to the new family in thirty minutes, what do you want to do?" Ben breaks the silence.

"I heard talking over at the Gold's, we could go over there," I suggest. The other three nod in response.

"There's nothing better to do." Hi says. "Meet you over there in a minute." I log off quickly and head downstairs, Cooper on my heels.

"Where are you going?" Kit asks me.

"Me and the others are going to go out, we heard voices." I answer, heading out the door.

"Be at the Gold's in twenty five minutes!" he calls after me. I nod my understanding and start off. The boys will catch up in a minute. I quietly walk over with Cooper. I hear arguing, and stop behind the house next to the Gold's.

They had set up a basketball net, a full sized one, and Kyle and another girl were playing with it. I realize that the girl wasn't Ali; it had to be the other one, what was her name? Uhh…Hayley! That was it. That girl was good. Kyle's pretty good, but the girl was beating him easily. She's wearing a purple tank top and black running shorts. Black Nikes were on her feet. She turns to keep the ball away from Kyle and I see her face. She has dark blond hair and blue-gray eyes. She seems to be the odd one out in the family. She was just as pretty as Ali, but she didn't really seem to care. As I watch, she elbows him in the gut, turns gracefully, and shoots over his head. The ball goes in neatly, bouncing lightly on the ground before rolling away.

"Fine, fine, you win! But that wasn't fair!" Kyle surrenders, doubling over panting.

"I know, but we aren't actually playing a game." the girl replies smirking, running to grab the ball before it rolls too far away. "Hey, what are we having for dinner tonight, out of random curiosity?"

"I don't know, I think lasagna. Some people are coming over." The girl stiffens instantly.

"What?" she questions, looking angry. "We're having _company_, and no one thought to tell me this?"

"Yeah, about that, it's going to be fine, Hayley. I bet they're nice. Don't flip out." He replies nervously. The girl throws him the ball and runs inside. The older boy groans. "Crap," he says and races in after her.

"What's going on?" a voice behind me asks. I jump and turn around to see Ben, Hi, and Shelton staring at me.

"Well, I just saw Kyle and another girl playing basketball." I say simply, glancing over at the empty driveway. Seeing no one, I turn back to the boys.

"Anyway, she beat him, then learned that we are coming over for dinner, freaked out, and ran inside. Kyle seemed annoyed at himself and ran after her."

"Why do you immediately say the girl beat him before getting to the more important part?" Ben asks, looking at me amusedly. I smile at him innocently.

"Because that is one of the most important parts," I state, smirking as the other three roll their eyes. I glance at my watch, and then look over Ben's shoulder to see the parents walking over. "I guess it's time to meet them. Let's go." I say unenthusiastically. We wait for our parents and then walk with them to the house. _Why do I get the feeling this is going to be an interesting dinner?_


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Virals**

Kit rings the doorbell, and a few moments later it's thrown open by Kyle.

"Hey people I don't know!" he says cheerfully. He steps out of the doorway. "Come on in!" he walks into the house, giving us more room to come in. I walk in and realize that this house was bigger than ours. I follow him into the living room area and see a woman in her late twenties, early thirties coming out.

"Ali, come out here!" she calls over her shoulder, and a moment later Ali comes in with a small girl who has the same dark brown hair and dark green eyes as Kyle.

"No Belle, obviously, Piglet is the best character!" she was saying to the small girl, Belle.

"No! It's Tigger!" the girl replies, waving her hands about. Ali rolls her eyes and picks her up, resting her on her hip.

"Belle, Piglet is the best, he's small and cute and pink!" she exclaims, not noticing that we were here.

"NO! It's Tigger because he's bouncy!" Belle argues.

"Oh God," I hear Kyle mutter. "People! You are all wrong! It is obviously the heffalump! Get it right! Now that _that_ is settled," I contain a snort, and watch as both girls glare at him and open their mouths to protest, but he barrels over them, "we have people over, stop embarrassing yourselves! Jeez!" he says, walking over to the couch and falling onto it. Both girls see us all for the first time, but neither seems embarrassed.

"Who's your favorite Winnie the Pooh character?" Belle asks me in her high voice.

"Umm…" I trail off, and glare at the boys, who were snickering at me, "probably…Tigger." I decide.

"See, the pretty girl agrees with me!" Belle exclaims, wiggling in Ali's arms. She laughs and sets Belle gently on her feet. Belle runs to me and hugs my knees. "Yay, we beat Ali!" She says, looking up at me. I nod not sure what to do. Dr. Gold sees this and saves me.

"Belle, get off the poor girl." She tells her. Belle squeezes me one more time then runs to Kyle. He sits up, groaning, and picks Belle up, placing her on his lap. "Finally!" Dr. Gold says, relieved. She turns to us all. "Hey guys! I know all of you except for the kids." She claims, smiling. Ruth, Hi's mom, starts talking.

"Hey Carol, nice to see you. Okay, this is my son, Hiram." She starts, pointing at Hi.

"It's Hi," he reminds absently, looking at Ali, who was talking quietly with Kyle on the couch. I hear _Hayley_ and_ Abby _and _she refuses to come out_ but then I hear my name.

"…and this is Tory, Kit's daughter." Ruth finishes. Dr. Gold smiles at me as I whip my head up.

"Nice to meet you Tory, I've heard a lot about you, mostly about you sneaking out, but-" she's interrupted by a small green ball being thrown down the stairs, which lands next to Whitney, and then a black and white blur comes streaking down the stairs and crashes into her. She shrieks and backs up as we hear a voice from upstairs.

"Abby, when I said fetch, I didn't mean attack the person who was near the tennis ball! I'm going to be in so much trouble!" a girl's voice yells down the stairs. "And fetch means bring it back." As soon as she finishes her sentence, the dog turns back around and runs up the stairs. Suddenly, Cooper pulls the leash out of my hand and runs after the other dog.

"Crap!" I mutter, but then I hear the girl's voice.

"Who are you? Anyway, you're adorable, wait, you have a collar. Uhh, Cooper? Is that your name? Down, boy! Apparently so, well Cooper, ABBY DOWN! As adorable as you are, and Abby obviously likes you, SERIOUSLY ABBY, STAY DOWN! I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be downstairs, so shoo." Cooper comes running down the stairs and runs back to me. I quickly grab his collar and made him sit. I hear the girl go upstairs with the other dog in tow, and then a door slam. Dr. Gold sighs. Suddenly, we hear the door open again and the girl calls down. "And all of you are wrong! Eeyore is obviously the best character! Duh!" The door slams shut again. Ali rolls her eyes.

"That was Hayley; hopefully she'll come out later."

"Doubt it," Kyle murmured.

"And that dog was her border collie, Abby." Dr. Gold finishes, shooting Kyle a warning look. He shuts up immediately. "Anyway, you three, introduce yourselves to Tory, Ben, Hi, and Shelton while I talk to the adults." I watch the adults go into the kitchen, leaving us alone. Ali starts us off.

"Hi, I'm Alison, but call me Ali, I'm a junior, I'm turning 17 in January, and I love fashion and shopping! My favorite game is paintball. Me and my sister are the ultimate team. We used to go over to my uncle's paintball place all the time." She tells us, grinning evilly.

"Hey, I'm Kyle, I'm 17, turning 18 in November, I'm starting senior year, and I play soccer and run track. Also, baseball is okay, and paintball rocks! Anyway, I'm a chemistry geek, mostly because it has to do with explosions, I'm thinking about going to MIT for it. We're from Massachusetts." He introduces himself.

"Wait, you come from MA?" I ask. He nods.

"Yeah, we came to live with Aunt Carol after the…incident," he replies, and his tone says questions about it is not a smart idea.

"Cool! I came from MA too! I moved here after my mom died." I say. "Where are you from?"

"Worchester, you?"

"The Cape."

"Cool, we used to visit our grandmother there before she died." He says.

"Yeah, I miss Massachusetts, but I love it here." I answer. He grins at me, it suddenly strikes me how good looking he is.

"Yeah, it is so much hotter here though." I start to reply, but then Belle butts in.

"My turn! My turn! My name is Belle, my favorite Disney princess is Belle, and I love the color green. My favorite animals are dinosaurs!" she yells happily. We all laugh. My turn to talk.

"Okay, my name is Tory, and I love science, um…I moved here a few months ago and I go to Bolton Prep." I say.

"Really? That's where we're going, except Belle of course; she's going to public school." Ali says, interested. "What's it like?"

"It's ok, I guess, the worst part is the uniforms." I rack my brains, thinking about Bolton Prep. I listen as the boys describe themselves. When they're done, Kyle glances at the wall clock.

"We still have forty five minutes until dinner." He turns to Ali. "Wanna go see about Hayley?" She nods.

"Sure," she says. "Let me leave Belle behind." She walks into the kitchen and I hear her talking to Dr. Gold. A few moments later, she comes back and starts towards the stairs.

"Let's go! Bring Cooper with you, he might help." She says, running up the stairs. We all follow her. She stops at the first landing. "This is Aunt Carol's room." She says, pointing to a door on my right. She turns to the door on the left. "This one is Belle's room" she opens the door and walks in. We all follow her, and the minute I'm inside, all I see are dinosaurs. They are EVERYWHERE. Walls, floor, ceiling, bed, dresser, every inch has some sort of dinosaur on it. Ali laughs, seeing our expressions.

"She did say she likes dinosaurs." She calls over her shoulder, walking out of Belle's room. She climbs the next set of stairs and opens a door. "This is my room." She walks in and beckons us to follow, so we do. Her room is a light purple, with darker purple accents. White furniture is everywhere. She has a small bookshelf and desk with a PC on it. She opens her closet and I see whereas her bookshelf is mostly empty, her closet is far from it. Clothes are _everywhere_. As she closes it though, I see a paintball gun and a nerf gun sitting on the floor. I shrug and look away. She walks out and into the hallway, and then opens the door across from hers.

"This is Kyle's." You can see immediately that he loves sports. There are posters everywhere for different sports, along with photographs of his family, I was going to look closer, but Ali shoves us all out and stalks up the last staircase. She turns to us.

"A word to the wise. Hayley is moody; I have no idea if she'll let us in. Also, don't comment on any pictures in her room, kay? If you do, be warned, she will shoot you, and paintballs hurt like hell when shot from close range. I'm one hundred percent sure she smuggled paintballs up to her room." She turns to the door, but before she can talk Hayley answers.

"No," her voice sounds like Ali's, I note.

"Why?" Ali asks, weary. Hayley laughs.

"Dude, I know all, see all, hear all." Ali looks unsurprised.

"I should've known, you spied on us, didn't you? Please, Hayley? Obviously, you know that there aren't any adults up here right now." There's a pause.

"Who's who?" Ali rolls her eyes.

"When you let us in I'll tell you! I'm surprised you don't know already." she says, exasperated.

"Fine, watch out." The door flies open, revealing the blond haired girl. She's showered, and now she's wearing a different pair of dark green running shorts and a light green t-shirt. She's holding back a straining Abby.

"Abby, down!" she says commandingly, and I watch as Abby, and Cooper sits. I was surprised to say the least. Hayley gestures impatiently, and we all file in. Hayley has the largest room, and her own bathroom. In a corner, a black guitar with silver accents is on a stand, and clear glass doors lead out onto a small balcony. The guitar has some sort of signature on it, but I'm too far away to see what the name is. Her walls are dark purple, and so is her bedspread. Her furniture is black, and her desk has a PC on it. I watch as she goes over to it and types something in.

"Who's who?" she asks again, turning away from the computer.

"Tory, Hi, Ben, and Shelton, and Tory's dog Cooper." Ali states, flopping onto the silver beanbag chair in the corner. She points to everyone as she says their name.

"Hey," Hi says. Shelton says hello, and Ben nods. I nod too. She looks us all over, and then replies.

"Hey, I'm Hayley. I'm 15, I'm going to be a sophomore this year, and I kick butt at sports, and can run faster than anyone, including my idiot brother over there." She jerks her head at Kyle, who scowls at her.

"You know it's true." She says, smirking at him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know." He replies sullenly, staring out the window.

I look around, and see a picture of her with a tall, dark haired, green eyed girl. She could be Kyle's twin. I turn around and see her watching me, waiting for the question about her. I heed Ali's warning, and ask about Abby instead.

"How long have you had Abby?" She visibly relaxes.

"She's 5 five years old; I got her when I was ten." She says, rubbing Abby between her ears. "Free," she tells her and she rushes to Coop. They start wrestling, and both me and Hayley laugh.

"Can I see your phone? Hayley asks me. I nod and hand it to her.

"I wouldn't…" Kyle pipes up, but Hayley already has it. I look suspiciously at him, then her. I watch as she starts to fiddle with it. I realize I never gave her the combination to unlock it. I'm about to say something, except I watch as Ali's phone buzzes and she reads the incoming text. Hayley tosses my phone back to me. Ali takes another second to read the message, then she looks up.

"What it it!" Ali jumps up and moves toward Hayley. Abby immediately jumps off the floor and gets between them, growling. Ali stumbles back. Well, that was weird…

"Abby! Sit!" Abby ignores her and bares her teeth. Hayley shoots up and gets between them. "Abby, SIT! NOW!" Abby snarls then sits down and looks at Hayley with pricked ears. Hayley wasn't falling for it.

"Abby, NO! You cannot do that!" she says. Abby hangs her head. Hayley turns back to Ali her expression softening and she hugs her sister. "I'm sorry; I wasn't expecting her to do that, I thought she was over it since then." She tells her sister, glancing at us. Ali forces a smile, but I could see how nervous she was.

"Anyway, how long till dinner?" Hayley asks. "Cooper, stay." She tells Cooper, who's sneaking towards Abby. I grab his collar with an apologetic expression. Hayley smiles at me and turns back to Ali. Ali shrugs, and both look at Kyle. Kyle rolls his eyes and looks at his watch.

"About five minutes," he announces. He looks at us all. "We should probably go downstairs." Hayley nods and sits down on her bed.

"Aren't you coming down with us?" Shelton asks. Hayley glances at her siblings, then shrugs.

"Yeah, let's go." She says somewhat unenthusiastically. Before she can reach the door, though, the door opens to show Whitney. Hayley yelps and backs up, tripping and falling over. Abby rushes towards Whitney, ears back, teeth showing. I grab her collar as she runs by automatically. Abby flips around and tries to bite my wrist, but Coop growls and she stops, her teeth an inch from my skin. Kyle gets up and goes over to Hayley, who was on her back, panting from hitting the ground. Ali kneels besides him, and he gets up again and grabs Abby's collar form me.

"Thanks," he mutters. "Come on Abby, you are coming with me." He drags her past Hayley, who she did not want to leave, and hauls the struggling border collie downstairs. A minute later, Dr. Gold comes up. She looks over the situation. Me, holding Cooper, the boys' confused looks, Whitney at the door, frozen, and Hayley lying on her back with Ali next to her.

"Okay, anyone who doesn't live here leave. Now." She commands. We all follow Whitney out quickly, but I turn around to shut the door. I look at the scene in front of me. Hayley was still on her back, but I could see tears running down her face and into her hair. Ali's whispering to her, and Dr. Gold taking her pulse and talking softly. I shut the door quietly and follow everyone else down the stairs. _What the hell just happened?_


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own Virals.**

I go down the stairs, Cooper running ahead of me. I get to the bottom and see Abby sitting docile in a crate. Coop runs over and lies down next to it. I look at the crate, annoyed. I really don't like it when people keep dogs in crates. It's so inhumane! Kyle comes into the room and sees my expression. He walks to my side.

"I know, I don't like keeping her in a crate either. But when she does what she just did…we have to put her in there. She has to learn she can't be so protective."

"Yeah, what was that about?" I ask somewhat shyly, not sure what his reaction will be. His face darkens.

"A few months ago...something happened to my twin, Rebecca, and she was killed. Abby was originally hers, but when Becca died, she was there, and she's become increasingly protective of Hayley, who basically had idolized Becca since birth. She…"he trails off, lost in thought. I suspect there's something more to it, but let it go. He glances at me. "Sorry to make everything gloomier." I shrug, out of the corner of my eye, I see Dr. Gold and Ali come down and go to the kitchen.

"It's fine, now I know why Abby acts like she does." I say, glancing over at the Border collie.

"Yeah, she's a good dog though." He says. I nod, agreeing with him. Kyle gets called into the kitchen, and he smiles apologetically, then goes to help. I wander to the dining room. The boys are already sitting there, at a separate table from the adults. They look at me questioningly. I sit down between Ben and Hi, Shelton on the other side of Ben. They all lean in as I explain what Kyle told me. We all glance up when Ali sits down across from us, placing Belle besides her.

"Hiya," she says, looking up at us. She sees all of our expressions. "What?"

"Umm, Kyle told us about Becca." I tell her. She nods, understanding. "And is Hayley okay?"

"She's fine, just had a spaz attack, she's paranoid about everything." Ali says. She says it dismissively, but I get the feeling it was more than a spaz attack. But I drop it. Then she changes the subject.

"What's this junior deb thing?" she asks me. The boys snicker, and I hit Ben and Hi on the head. I lean over to hit Shelton, but he ducks away, laughing. Ali watches this with amusement. Kyle comes over, balancing a pan of garlic bread, lasagna, salad, and a bottle of coke. Ali snorts and grabs the garlic bread and salad and places it on the table. Kyle sighs, relieved, and places the lasagna in the middle and the bottle of coke next to his plate. He plops down across from Ben and opens his coke, draining half the bottle quickly. Ali looks at him, disgusted.

"How do you and Hayley do that? It's disgusting!" she says, looking away. "So what is junior deb?" Ali asks again. I grimace.

"Um, it's like, this thing, where we go and, dance and dress up, and stuff." I stumble through it, ignoring the boys' looks. Ali perks up.

"Really! I can't wait! That sounds like so much fun! Apparently, Whitney got us in, and we're going to this start of school thing. Hayley's going to hate it, but she can deal." Ali replies.

"Yo,"a voice says. Everyone in the room turns to see Hayley stride in. Ali and Kyle look surprised, while Dr. Gold looks annoyed.

"Hayley, you should be upstairs resting!" she scolds. Hayley shrugs.

"I feel fine, and I smelled garlic bread. Best food ever. And, it's been ten minutes, I'm fine now." She states, and ignoring her aunt's annoyed looks, comes and sits down next to Belle. The adults go back to their conversation, Dr. Gold glancing at Hayley every once in a while. She reaches over, grabs the garlic bread pan, took two slices, and downs one of them instantly. She shoves her chair back and goes to the kitchen, coming back a second later with a bottle of Sprite. She sits back down and opens it. She does the same thing Kyle did, drinking half of it at once.

"Do you have to do that?" Ali complains to her sister.

"Yes," Hayley replies, grabbing some lasagna and starting to eat. We all continue eating, talking randomly for the next thirty minutes.

Dr. Gold comes over with a giant brownie after we're all done. She turns to Hayley.

"Are you sure you're ok?" she asks the blond worriedly. Hayley nods, looking hungrily at the brownie. Dr. Gold rolls her eyes and walks away. We all attack the brownie. About ten minutes later, that brownie is history. Kyle grabs his plates and goes to the kitchen. He comes back empty handed and starts to grab the serving dishes. Hayley gets up and helps. A few minutes later, the table is empty and clean. The adults show no signs of being done any time soon, so we all go out to the family room. Ali takes Belle upstairs to put her to bed. After about ten minutes of just talking about random things, we all get bored.

"What do we do now?" Ben asks, sitting on the couch. Shelton shrugs.

"What can we do?" he looks at Kyle, who shrugs too. Hayley suddenly jumps up and races up the stairs and comes back with a basketball, Ali in tow. She motions for us to follow her, so we do, confused. Then I remember the basketball net they set up.

The South Carolinian sun is fading, but there's still plenty of light and heat. I pull my hair back into an unruly ponytail. Hayley waits for us impatiently under the basketball net. We all go over to her. She starts dribbling the ball absently.

"Want to play basketball?" she asks us. I shrug.

"Sure, what about you guys?" Kyle nods.

"Sounds fun," Ben replies. Shelton nods his approval, but Hi shakes his head.

"I'll sit out," he tells us. We all turn to Ali, who sighs dramatically, but nods her head. Hayley thinks for a minute.

"Ok, how about me, Tory, and Shelton, and then Ali, Kyle, and Ben?" She thinks for a minute. "Yeah, that works, you guys good with that?" We all nod our affirmation. "Let's go then."

The teams spread out and Hayley passes to me. I dribble it closer to the net, then pass it back to Hayley. She jumps and shoots, the ball going through the net neatly. Kyle snags the ball, and he and Ben start passing it to each other. When Ben passes to Kyle, Hayley sneaks in and steals it. She passes it to Shelton, who passes it to me. I start to pass to Hayley, but Ali steals it and dribbles it away. She tosses it to Ben, who shoots, but misses.

"Oh, so close!" Hayley teases, moving around to block Ali. I turn to see Hi, who is sitting in the grass, watching us. I raise my eyebrows at him. He shrugs, and I roll my eyes and turn back to the game. We keep playing until there isn't any light left. The final score is 15-13, making our team win. Hayley high fives me, then turns to Shelton to do the same. Hayley struts over to the other team and Hi, who had gotten up when the game was over.

"We win!" she reminds them in a sing-song voice, while Shelton and I walk over to the group. Kyle playfully glares at her for a moment, then starts to chase her. It's dark out by now, but it's obvious that Hayley was faster than Kyle, though Kyle is pretty fast. Hayley races back over to us, skidding to a stop next to Shelton. Ben turns to her.

"First back here wins," he tells her, then takes off. Hayley grins, and follows him. I watch as she quickly catches up to him, then slowly over takes him. She reaches the end of the road and sprints back. I wonder if Ben thought to use his flare to make him go faster.

"Damn that girl is fast." Hi says in awe. Shelton and I nod. Kyle walks over, and we wait for the other two to come back. Hayley reaches us first, but then goes back to taunt Ben.

"Ha, take that Blue!" she cheers dancing in a circle around Ben when he stops in front of us. Ben rolls his eyes while Kyle grins at his sister.

"That was just lucky. I'll beat you next time." He replies confidently.

"Yeah, right! That's never going to happen!" she declares proudly.

"Oh yeah?" he asks, sounding amused.

"Yep!" she says, cheerfully, punching him lightly on his arm. I hear a door open and turn to see the parents coming out the door. The group walks over to us all. Next to me, I can feel Hayley stiffen, and her cheerful air left.

"Tory, Hayley, Ali, I have great news! Tomorrow, we are going to go dress shopping for the dance!" she tells us excitedly. Ali looks excited too, but Hayley and I wore matching horrified expressions.

"See you tomorrow!" she calls, leaving with Kit, who has Cooper with him. Hayley looks murderous.

"I'm not going." She announces. I snort.

"Good luck with that." I say, walking away. I turn and wave. "See you tomorrow!" I say fake cheerfully. "Dress shopping!" Hayley groans and does a face palm. I laugh and turn away to walk home, the boys next to me.

"Do you like the new family?" I ask them. They nod and we split up to go to our separate homes. "Bye!" I call out, then head inside and go to bed, Cooper next to me. Right before I fall asleep, I realize I never flared once while at dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own Virals, the amazing Kathy Reichs does. I also don't own Hayley's shirt, that belongs to ThinkGeek.**

The next morning, I wake up to see Whitney. Not the best way to start the morning. I groan and roll over, scooting away from her.

"Get up! It's time to go dress shopping! And this time, there'll be two more girls! It's going to be so much fun! Get up!"

"It's only," I roll over to look at my alarm clock, "eight o'clock! Why this early?" I complain loudly, burrowing down into my blankets. Whitney grabs my wrist and tries to pull me out of bed. She's weak, but Coop jumps up onto my bed, causing it to sag and me to fall out of it. My back hits the wooden floor. I groan again and sit up, untangling myself from my sheets.

"Be ready in twenty minutes!" Whitney calls over her shoulder, strutting out of the room. I drag myself up and take a fast shower. I pull on some shorts and a t-shirt, grab my phone, and then walk slowly down the stairs. When I reach the bottom, I find Whitney waiting impatiently and Kit still half asleep.

"You're ready! Let's go get Ali and Hayley and we'll be off!" she says, shoving me out the door and into the street. I walk ahead of her to the Gold's house, and ring the doorbell. The door is opened quickly, to reveal Ali. She's dressed in cutoff jean shorts and a tank top with a design of a heart and wings. Whitney comes up behind me.

"Hey!" Ali says, opening the door so we can come in.

"Where's Hayley?" I ask.

"What, no hello! I'm offended!" Ali says mockingly. "And the answer to your question is that she's still sleeping."

"What! I told her to be ready by eight!" Whitney says, confused. Ali rolls her eyes.

"You think she's gonna listen? I tried to get her up, but Hayley is freaking stubborn, and stronger than me. She threw a pillow at me." Ali replied. Kyle walks in and sees us.

"Yo, I couldn't get Hayley up." He says simply. I laugh.

"She's that hard to get up?" I ask. Kyle grins at me and runs a hand through his hair.

"You have no idea. Do you want to try?" I shrug.

"Sure," I say, and go up to Hayley's room. I knock, then walk in. I see Hayley lying in her bed, ignoring me. I walk up behind her. "Boo," I say. She twists around.

"She got you up?" she says, already knowing the answer. "How?"

"She pulled me, and I was close to the edge of the bed, so I fell out." She laughs.

"I suppose they sent you to get me up?" I nod. Hayley looks at me challenging. "You won't be able to."

"I've been told," I sit on the end of her bed. She stiffens for a second, and I watch her force herself to relax. I frown, but decide not to ask. "Come on, it won't be that bad. She'll have Ali to distract her. We can run away and go to the YMCA or something." She looks at me sharply.

"There's a YMCA in Charleston?" she asks. I nod. "Sweet! I love YMCAs." She says dreamily. I laugh and snap my fingers in front of her face. She reels back and a smile grows on her face. "I'll make a deal. I'll get up and go shopping, if I can go to the YMCA for as long as I want after we're done." I consider it.

"Let me ask," I pull my phone out and call Whitney, too lazy to go downstairs.

"What?" she asks impatiently.

"Hayley says she'll come if she can go to the YMCA for as long as she wants afterward." I reply, bouncing lightly on the bed.

"Sure! Just get her up." Whitney hangs up. I turn back to Hayley.

"You have yourself a deal." She grins and sits up, swinging her legs over the side of her bed. She goes to her dresser and pulls out a black shirt that says 'come to the dark side, we have cookies' and black cutoff jeans. She runs to the bathroom, changes, then comes back out. She goes to her closet and grabs a duffel bag and dumps it on the floor. I watch her put a basketball, soccer ball, tennis ball, and volleyball in to it. Then she walks over to her dresser, grabs a swimsuit, some athletic shorts, and a tank top, puts it in, and zips it shut. She grabs a brush and pulls it through her blond hair, then shoves some brightly colored hair ties on her wrist. She grabs her phone, shoves her feet into her black Nikes, and turns to me. I glance at the wall clock. Six minutes.

"Done!" she announces. We walk downstairs and back to everyone else. Ali turns to us.

"Apparently, Ben is giving us a ride to Charleston; it'll be quicker than driving." She informs us. "And, when we all want to go home while Hayley's at the YMCA for nine hours straight, he can bring us back." Hayley smirks.

"I did it once." She says, then adjusts her bag and walks outside. "Where are we going?" she asks, once she realizes she has no idea where it is. I laugh.

"Follow me!" I say, and start walking. Hayley catches up to me.

"So, do you play any sports?" she asks me. I shake my head no. "You should. I bet you would be great at them." I laugh.

"I doubt it; I'm not a very sporty person." _Especially when I've been through life threatening situations_ I add silently. Hayley drops the topic and we walk the rest of the way to the dock in companionable silence, Whitney and Ali chattering in the background.

"There it is," I say, pointing to the dock. Sewee is waiting for us, and I see Ben and Shelton on board. Why is Shelton here?

"Is this your boat?" Hayley asks Ben. He nods and goes back to checking something on the boat. Hayley looks somewhat impressed that Ben owns his own boat. She turns to Shelton. "Why are you here?"She asks.

"Nice to see you too." He says dryly. "I'm here because I need to go to Charleston too, so here I am."

"Ah," I say mildly. "That explains it." I walk on board while Hayley yells for the other two to hurry up. She stalks onto Sewee and drops her bag onto the ground, rubbing her shoulder.

"Ow," she mutters. "Stupid bag." She leaves it in the middle of the floor and sits down on one of the benches that are attached to the sides of the boat. Ben raised an eyebrow at her.

"You planning on picking that up?" he asks.

"Wasn't planning on it, I was hoping Whitney would trip on it." She replies, staring up at the sky. Ben kicks it towards her. Hayley looks down, shrugs, and goes back to examining the sky. I walk over to Shelton.

"Why do you need to go to Charleston?" I ask as Ben starts the boat and Ali and Whitney get on.

"I need to get some stuff for school next week. Binders and such." He says, glancing at Hayley, who is ignoring Ali's teasing about her going shopping.

"I get to go to the YMCA, therefore, I am good." She declares. Ali smirks, but doesn't reply. I stop for a moment to study both of them. Both are tall and slender, and have smooth, pale skin. Ali's auburn hair is longer and slightly thicker, whereas Hayley's is dark blond and goes just past her shoulders. Their eyes are almost opposites, blue-gray eyes too dark hazel ones. They sound alike, I realize now it was probably Hayley singing before. Both could probably be models, but whereas Ali knows it and flaunts it, Hayley doesn't seem to know, or if she does, care. I feel more comfortable around Hayley because of that, I think. And, you know, her sarcasm and downright evilness rivals Hi's. I hadn't even though that was possible. Hayley looks up at me and mouths _kill me now._ I smile and head towards her. By now we're about halfway to Charleston.

"Where are we going?" I wonder out loud. Ali answers me.

"Somewhere called 'Tiffany's Dress Boutique'" I groan. "What?"

"It's the nicest, fanciest, most expensive dress shop in Charleston." I reply.

"Oh, I can't wait!" Ali's eyes light up. How can she be excited? I watch as Ben pulls into the marina, wishing it was a longer ride.

"Thanks," I say as I pass Ben. We all get off; it looks like Ben is going to go school shopping too. I did mine weeks ago. Whitney leads us away from the marina and the boys, and into the heart of downtown Charleston. Hayley starts swinging her head around every few seconds. Her posture is stiff, her breathing is ragged, and I start to worry about her collapsing. I elbow Ali and ask her if Hayley is going to be all right. Ali sees what's going on and hurries to Hayley's side and starts to talk quietly to her. I watch as after about five minutes Hayley starts to relax, and by the time we reach the shop, she's much calmer, only the tension in her shoulders showing how uncomfortable she still is.

The door dings as we walk in, Hayley jumps and swings around. She sees me watching and shrugs slightly, then turns back to Whitney, who's talking to a petite brunette. They're talking too rapidly for me to understand. They turn around and beckon for us to follow them. Ali, Hayley, and I follow them, twisting and turning through racks of cloths. Ali's looking everywhere, her face alight with excitement. Hayley and I are staring straight ahead, trying to ignore all the fancy clothes.

"We're ready! My name is Nancy and I'm going to help you find the perfect dress! Who wants to go first?" she asks. Ali steps forward excitedly. "Okay sweetie, come with me. You two can follow if you like!" she calls back at us. Both Hayley and I back up. She turns to me.

"What's Bolton Prep like?" she asks, trying to ignore the cloths around her. I shrug.

"It could be worse," I start off, and then I start to explain everything about my school.

"OK, but what about-" she's cut off by Nancy, Ali, and Whitney returning, Ali with a light blue dress draped over her arm.

"What are you going on about now?" Ali asks her sister, amused.

"Nothing, I'm just wondering about our new school." Hayley starts bouncing up and down.

"Bolton Prep."Whitney tells Nancy, who's looking confused.

"Oh, that's one of the best schools in Charleston." She turns to look at Hayley and me. I start to get bored with the discussion and wonder just how long this conversation is going to be. Not long, apparently, because Ali shoves Hayley and me into the dress racks. We both glare at her, but she just giggles and waves at us as we're dragged to go look at the dresses. I reluctantly look at the dresses being shoved into my face.

"Go try them on!" Nancy shoves us towards the dressing rooms. What is it with shoving me?

I close and the lock the door behind me. My attention turns to the dresses I'm holding. One is a light pink with gold accents; much like the first one Whitney ever got me into. Another is a dark green halter top that falls past my knees. The last one is a black dress that stops at my knees with a simple black sash across my waist. I decide to start with the green one. I slip it on over my head and look at myself in the mirror. It could be worse, I guess. I step out and into Whitney and Nancy's critism. Hayley is already out, her arms are crossed and she's tense again, following Nancy with suspicious eyes. Neither of the women notices.

Hayley's dress is turquoise with silver accents along the hem and neckline. It's strapless, which probably only adds to her discomfort. Nancy and Whitney are circling her, looking over every detail of the dress. Hayley sees me and smirks, until I gesture at her outfit and then the smirk disappears, replaced with a scowl. I laugh, alerting Whitney and Nancy to my presence. They immediately leave Hayley and flock around me. It's my turn to scowl as they look me over.

"What do you think, Tory?" Whitney asks me, adjusting the zipper in the back.

"It's great!" I say overenthusiastically. _Anything to get me out of this! _Hayley agrees with me, probably just to get out of here faster. The two women seem to agree also.

"Yes, I think that's the one, Nancy. Same with Hayley's, I think." Nancy nods her head in assent, and then we all hear Ali talking to someone. Hayley and I go to see who they are. What I see does not make me happy. It's the tripod of skank, Courtney, Ashley and Madison. And Ali is happily talking to them.

"I'm Ali, I'm new here." She tells them.

"Where do you live?" Ashley asks, twirling her black hair around her finger. I can tell they feel threatened by the new girl.

"Morris Island," she replies and the tripod gasps.

"You live out there with those losers? But you're actually pretty!" Courtney looks genuinely confused. I roll my eyes. Seriously? I watch as Hayley pops up, still in her dress, and walks over, leaving me confused.

"Who are you?" she asks brightly. Madison, Courtney and Ashley all turn to look at her. And I can tell they don't like what they se. Unlike them, Hayley has no makeup on, and she still was pretty. They, however, must have fifty pounds of makeup caked on their faces. Ali's was at least light.

"We could ask the same," Madison replies challengingly.

"I'm Hayley, Ali's younger sister." She says, crossing her arms. Whitney and Nancy come up behind us.

"Oh, are these your friends, Tory?" she asks me. The tripod and I all snort.

"Nope!" I swing around and go back to the dressing rooms. I slip in the one with my clothes and quickly change, relieved to get back into comfortable clothing. I head out and see Hayley emerging from the stall next to mine. Her dress is draped over her arm. I quickly grab mine and we head back towards the doorway. Ali is deep in a discussion with the tripod. She glances up.

"Do you mind if I stay in town with them? They're going to show me around." She looks pleadingly at Whitney, who nods. The girls squeal, thank Whitney, and head out, Ali handing her dress to Hayley. We pay and head outside, where we run into Ben and Shelton, looking uncomfortable.

"What are you doing here? You aren't looking for dresses, I hope." I tell them. Shelton rolls his eyes and motions to Ben.

"Nope, Hayley left her bag on the boat." Hayley steps forward and snatches her bag off Ben's shoulder. He laughs and holds up his hands in mock surrender.

"Easy! I didn't do anything to it!" Hayley shrugs and swings it onto her shoulder, knocking it into Whitney. She loses her balance and teeters for a moment, then crashes to the ground. We all jump back, and then I offer her a hand.

"Need help?" she grabs my hand and I pull her up. Hayley turns to me.

"Where's the YMCA?" she asks, bouncing up and down. I grab her arm and pull her after me. She stiffens and twists out of my grasp, stopping for a second until Shelton crashes into her. She jumps forward, and then grins apologetically over her shoulder as we continue. I watch as Shelton's gaze never leaves her, until Ben nudges him. He blinks and follows us. After about a ten minute walk, I see a giant building with the letters YMCA on the side.

"We're here!" I announce, and smile as Hayley pushes past me and darts through the door. I turn to the boys and Whitney. "Are you staying?" I ask. Whitney shakes her head.

"I'm going to go out to lunch with some friends. I'll see you later!" she turn on her four inch heels and leaves, the dress bag swinging in her hand. I turn to the boys.

"What about you?"

"I'm going to head home," Ben answers. Shelton nods in agreement.

"I'll come with, I can get Hayley later." I decide. We slowly walk through Charleston to get to the Marina. We're almost there, when I crash into somebody.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," a male voice above me says, offering me a hand. I grab it and he pulls me up. The guy has dark hair and darker eyes. He smiles kindly at me.

"It's fine," I say dismissively. He smiles again and heads off. Ben glowers after him.

"I don't like him," he says, half to himself.

"Why?" I ask as we start moving towards the boats again.

"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling about him." I shrug and hop into the boat. A minute later we're skimming the waves back to Charleston.


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own Virals.**

When we get back to Morris, we decide to go drop off the boys' school stuff, then go to the bunker. I text Hi to let him know what we were going to do.

Tory: Ben, Shelton and me r going 2 go 2 the bunker, meet us there

I shove my phone into my pocket and catch up to the boys. We drop Ben's stuff off first, and then double back to Shelton's. My phone buzzes against my leg and I slide it out, looking at the text.

Hi: I c u guys

Tory: Come on!

Hi: u rly are impatient, u know that, rite?

Tory: Yes, hurry up!

Hi: im coming!

I relay Hi's message and we all stop, waiting for Hi to catch up. About five minutes later, Hi comes running out to meet us. He stops next to Shelton, his face bright red. As we wait for Hi catch his breath, my phone buzzes again. I look at it, and see it's from an unknown number. I frown and open the text.

Hayley: where r u?

Tory: Hayley?

Hayley: ya…

Tory: I went back to morris with the boys

Hayley: how do I get back?

Tory: text me or ben, we'll come pick u up at the dock

Hayley: I don't know how 2 get there!

Tory: o ya…I'll go 2 the ymca and show u how 2 get there

Hayley: k

"Who are you texting?" Hi looks over my shoulder, trying to see the screen. I elbow him and he backs away. "Is that Ali?"

"Nope, it's Hayley," I reply. I look at Ben. "She might text you, we need to get her from Charleston." He nods his head. My phone starts ringing. It's Hayley again. "Why are you calling me?" I ask, confused. "You could've just texted me."

"I'm calling you because you can't text and bounce a basketball. Who's Jason Taylor?" I see Ben stiffen out of the corner of my eye. "And why are those three sluts from earlier following him around like puppies. Which also means my sister is too." She sounds disgusted. I laugh as I see Hi look disappointed. "Why are you laughing? I mean my sister is looking like a complete idiot right now. Although, honestly, if she wants to act like an idiot, I guess I should let her."

"I'm laughing because of you description. Jason is a junior at Bolton Prep, he's a lacrosse star and he's one of the most popular boys in school. Those three girls are Madison, Ashley, and Courtney, aka the tripod of skank," Hayley laughs in the background, "and they all like Jason. Everything make sense now?"

"Yeah, wait a minute." I can hear her talking to someone, I realize its Jason. "Who are you?" I roll my eyes, I just told her!

"Jason, are you Ali's sister?"

"Yeah, why?" the blond girl sounds suspicious.

"Just wondering, she's over there with those three girls."

"Yeah, I see her." Hayley sounds disappointed about it.

"Oh, are you talking to someone? Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." Hayley laughs.

"It's fine, I'm talking to Tory."

"Oh, you know Tory? Do you live on Morris Island too?" he sounds interested.

"Yeah, me, my brother Kyle, Ali, my little sister and my aunt live out there." She replies, and I can hear the basketball thudding against the ground in the background.

"Oh, are you going to Bolton Prep too?" Hayley makes a noise in protest about something.

"Hey, give it back!" I hear Jason laughing, keeping it away from Hayley. "Fine, yeah, except for Belle, my little sister, she's five. Tory says you play lacrosse. Do you play anything else?" I laughed; I should've known Hayley would ask that.

"No, what do you play?" he asks. Hayley seems thrilled to be asked, as her annoyed tone of voice disappears.

"I play basketball, volleyball, I run track and cross country, and I'm okay at soccer and hockey." Jason laughs.

"That's a lot."

"Yeah, you've never played any other sport?"

"I've played soccer, but I'm not great at it."

"Same, my brother loves it, but I just can't get it. The only thing I can get is shooting. I can sometimes get it in from the other side of the field." She says proudly.

"Really? Can you show me?" Jason sounds skeptical.

"Yeah, come on. Tory I have to go see you later." Hayley rushes through her sentence then hangs up. I slide my phone back into my pocket.

"Okay then, Hi, can you breathe yet?" I ask him. He nods and we start off over the dunes to get to our secret bunker.

"We have two days until school starts!" Shelton groans. I realize he's right and I suddenly think about facing the tripod and Jason at the cotillion tomorrow night.

**SNAP**

_ Crap!_ I think, but the memories of humiliation and anger causes me to flare. The pain runs through my body like liquid fire, and I fall to my knees as my irises turn gold and my wolf senses kick in. I look up as the pain dissolves and see three pairs of eyes staring worriedly down at me.

"Tory, you can't flare everywhere!" Hi tells me disapprovingly. I glare at him, but he just stares back at me calmly.

"Do you think I want to be flaring randomly?" I reply angrily, getting up and brushing sand off of my legs. "If I can't find a way to stop it, this year is going to be hell."

"Well, if you get caught flaring, it's going to be hell for all of us!" Hi snaps at me. I roll my eyes and start off towards the bunker again. When we get there, I slip through the door and flop on the floor, waiting for the boys to come in. I breathe in deeply and scents flood into my nostrils. I close my eyes as the boys come in and settle around me. I slow my breathing, trying to calm my brain down enough to let the flare go. After about five minutes, my patience is rewarded.

** SNUP**

I can feel the gold in my eyes evaporating, and my boosted senses slip away, leaving my normal senses behind. I open my eyes to find Ben, Hi, and Shelton staring at me.

"Good, your flare's gone." Shelton sighs in relief, sitting down next to me.

"Yeah," I mutter, staring at the ground.

"We really need to find a way to stop you from randomly flaring." Hi says, staring at me.

"No, really?" I reply sarcastically, leaning my head back against the wall and staring at the ceiling. "We better figure it out soon, though. We have about a day."

"No, we have two," Shelton says confusedly.

"No, you're forgetting Tory has to go to junior deb." Hi smiles smugly at me. I glare in return, and then turn to glare at the other two, who are trying not to laugh.

"Ugh, why am I friends with any of you?" I ask, still glaring.

"Because you love us very much," Hi leans against the opposite wall, still smug.

"I doubt that," I mumble, getting up and moving to sit in one of the windows where cannons used to be kept.

"Are you sure you're all right Tory? You seem…really stressed out." Ben tells me, looking at me worriedly. I shrug.

"I don't know, I'll be fine." I reply shortly, looking out the small window.

"Are you sure?" Ben repeats. I snort.

"I'll be fine Blue, I can deal." I close my eyes again lean back. I listen as the boys start talking to each other, but all I want to do is sleep and forget about everything. I must have drifted off, because suddenly, there's a warm hand on my shoulder, shaking me awake. I open my eyes to find Ben staring at me.

"Get up, you've been asleep for about three hours and Kit wants to know where you are." He hands me my phone, it must've slipped out of my pocket, to find Hayley calling me. _Perfect timing_ I think, answering it.

"Yes?" I ask, yawning.

"You sound tired, and you didn't answer my texts, which is why I called you." Hayley informs me, shushing someone behind her.

"I am, I just slept for three hours, which would be why I didn't answer." I get up and stretch.

"Fun, anyway, Ben doesn't have to pick me up, Jason offered to drive me and Ali back to Morris. Ali, shut up!" she yells at her sister. I could hear Ali's annoyed reply in the background.

"Ok, I'll tell Ben, see you tomorrow." I say, yawning again. Hayley laughs.

"Go sleep, Tory."

"I will, thank you very much."

"You're welcome." Hayley laughs again and hangs up. I turn to Ben.

"Jason's driving them back." I stumble sleepily towards the door. Ben grabs my arm as I trip and start to fall.

"Ok," he replies, but I can tell he doesn't want to see Jason. I roll my eyes and make my way out of the bunker without killing myself. As we walk back to our houses, I must trip at least twenty times. I know I'm not always coordinated at the best of times, but this was ridiculous. I straighten up and start walking normally. Even so, I'm about thirty feet behind the guys, who are talking ahead of me.

"You do, don't you?" I could hear Shelton and Hi annoying Ben.

"I do not!" he replied, turning away from Shelton. Unfortunately for him, he turned right into Hi.

"Just admit it!" Hi's smirk grew wider as Ben got more uncomfortable.

"What?" I ask, stopping next to Hi. Hi's smirk only grew bigger.

"Nothing," Hi says in a sing-song voice and grabs Shelton's arm, pulling him away. Shelton glances back at us, but follows Hi.

Ben runs a hand through his hair and I look at him questioningly.

"It's nothing," he says, glaring at Hi's back. I turn to him.

"What?" I ask again. He smirks at me.

"You don't get to know." I elbow him, and he elbows me back. I'm about to push him when I see a car drive down the one road on Morris Island.

I watch as the car stops in front of the Gold's house. When I see Jason step out of the car, I immediately remember the last time I saw him and yelling at him. I struggle for a second until I feel the flare that had been bubbling up to the surface pop and sink again. I look up, relieved, and see Hayley waving at us, her wet hair in a messy ponytail. I laugh and wave back, picking up a run and leaving Ben behind, passing Shelton and Hi.

"Hey, guess what? I kicked Jason's butt at basketball. And running, although he beat me at swimming," she glares at him for a second, "and I played volleyball, which was awesome, and I beat him at soccer!"

"You really like winning, don't you?" I remark, putting my hands on my hips. She nods eagerly. Jason laughs, shaking his head.

"That's an understatement. Every time she won, she began screaming. It was hilarious. Except when she lost, then she tried to kill me." He says thoughtfully. We all turn to her. She looks down guiltily.

"I did not! I just splashed you, harder than necessary." She mumbles the last part, fidgeting. I laugh as Ali gets out of the car, talking on her phone. Hayley's face shuts down of all emotion, and she waits for Ali to go inside and for Kyle come out to start talking.

"Oh joy, isn't this going to be fun." She tells her brother sarcastically. Kyle sighs in agreement and turns to look at Jason.

"Who are you?" he asks him, looking him up and down suspiciously.

"I'm the person who your sister nearly killed." He says, mock glaring at her and she smiles evilly. Kyle laughs.

"Did she lose to you? At what, I need to know so I can annoy her later." Hayley shoves him and he stumbles. "God, why are you so strong?" she shrugs, then turns pale. She falls to her knees, and for a second, I swear her eyes flash gold. Then she shakes her head and stands up, leaning on Kyle. We all look at her worriedly, but when she sees our concern she tells us she's fine. I glance at the other Virals. They all saw what I saw.

"Are you ok?" Shelton asks again and she smiles weakly at him.

"I'm fine. I think I'm going to go shower than sleep. Night guys." She lets go of Kyle's arm and makes her way slowly into the house. Kyle frowns as he watches her.

"I guess I better go check on her. See ya later!" he calls over his shoulder. Jason shrugs.

"I guess that's my cue to go. See you tomorrow, Tory." He grins at me, and I feel my insides go all weak and floppy.

"Yeah, bye." I say weakly, watching him drive away. Shelton starts rambling once the car gets out of sight.

"Did anyone else see her eyes flash gold? Because I swear I saw them turn gold. Isn't it not supposed to be contagious? Because she should not have the virus. How did she get it? Do you think anyone else will? What if she dies from it? I mean, we were lucky, but she-" Hi slaps his hand over his mouth.

"Shut up already, my ears are bleeding!" he says roughly. Shelton nods and Hi removes his hand.

"He's right though, Hayley shouldn't have it." I say, panic starting to take over. "How did it transfer to her?"

"I don't know, and right now, I don't care. I want to sleep!" Hi stamps his foot in annoyance. We all agree to meet up tomorrow and then head off to our own houses.


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own Virals.**

The man slips quietly through the bushes surrounding the Charleston prison. He glances around the area quickly, then sneaks over to the right barred window.

"Psst! Up here!" he whispers. The bald man in the cell looks up, and then strides over to the window.

"Hurry up already! We don't have much time left!" The man hisses to the young man outside. The boy's dark eyes glitter with annoyance.

"I'm trying! Getting her alone is hard! Killing her will be hard enough, and getting you out is only making everything more difficult!" he shoots back, kneeling in the dirt. The man grins.

"I know, so get me out so I can help you. Don't forget Ms. Wythe, she will be very helpful." He laughed. "Also, have you ever heard of someone called Marion Gold?" the dark haired man shakes his head, then pauses and thinks for a minute.

"Wait, is she the woman on the news who murdered her step daughter?" he asks slowly, trying to tease out the quiet memory. The bald one nods.

"Correct, contact her, I'm sure she can get out on her own. She will be helpful also." He rubs his hands together. The man outside nods, then gets up and goes to the next cell over.

"Miss?" he whispers, staring into the darkness. The thin beam of moonlight illuminates a small patch on the floor. He hears the creak of someone getting off a bed, and then a woman steps into the light. Her green eyes shimmer as she walks over to the bars.

"How is it all going?" she asks quietly. He shrugs.

"Ok, I guess, hopefully in a few days you will be out." She nods, thinking.

"Good, now go before someone sees you." She smiles fleetingly, and the ghost of her old beauty shines through her. Then it disappears and she steps out of the moonlight. He snakes around the video cameras and out of the prison yard. Tightening his coat around him, he slips his hood over his head. _Two days,_ he thinks, turning into an alley. _This better work. The Brennan girl is going down._ He grins slyly, and opens the door to his small, hidden house. He glances behind him, then slips in and shuts the door behind him. _The mutts are going to pay._


	8. Chapter 8

**Sadly, I don't own Virals. Kathy Reichs does.**

"It's so hot out!"

"It's only ninety five degrees!"

"Only!"

"Yes, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is it's freaking hot out!" Hayley leans against her house, glaring at Hi.

"Darling, you're in South Carolina now. It's going to be hotter, deal with it." Hi replies mockingly. Hayley glares more, while the rest of us watch amusedly.

"How long is this going to last?" I wonder out loud. Kyle turns to me.

"Probably a while, do you think we should stop it?" he asks, glancing at the two.

"Yeah, probably, any ideas?" Ali looks up, turning her back on the two teenagers.

"We could-"Ali starts, but then Hayley appears right behind her.

"Hey, can we go swimming?" Hayley asks to no one in particular. Hi comes up next to her. He turns to her.

"You're easily distracted." Hi tells her and she shrugs.

"Can we go swimming?" Hayley asks again, looking around the semi-circle. I glance at the rest of the pack. Ben and Shelton were at the edge of the group, watching everything quietly and talking to each other softly. We really need to discuss last night. But, I have to admit, swimming sounds pretty good right now. I shrug.

"Probably, Ben, do you mind?" he shakes his head. Hayley grins, and starts to bounce lightly.

"So we can go swimming?" she clarifies. I laugh at her excitement and nod. "Yes!" she runs back into her house. We all watch her amusedly as she bounds up her steps and disappears into the house.

"You know, sometimes I think she's about three." Kyle says, smiling. "I'm assuming we're taking Ben's boat to wherever we're going." Ben nods. "OK, I'll meet you out here, cause I still don't know how to get to the docks."

"Kay," I agree, and we all disperse, going back to our separate houses. I slip in and start towards the stairs. Hopefully, _hopefully_ she won't be here…

"Tory, where are you going?" Kit asks, coming out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee in his hand. I sigh in relief.

"Me and the gang are going to go swimming out around Loggerhead." I reply, turning to go up the stairs. Kit stops me.

"Have you asked the new family if they want to go?" I nod.

"It's all thanks to Hayley we're going, she was complaining about the heat." I smile as he laughs.

"Wait, Tory darling, you're going swimming?" a voice from upstairs asks. I cringe and turn around to see Whitney descending, looking thrilled. Oh no.

"Yeah…" I trail off.

"Now?" she asks.

"Yeah," I reply. She smiles and drags me up to my room.

"Now, darling, we need to find you the perfect bathing suit." She says, digging through my dresser. I watch as she shoves all of my one pieces aside and starts taking out…bikinis? How the hell did those get in there?

"Since when have I had those in there?" I voice my thoughts, backing away.

"I put them in here weeks ago!" Kit let her _into my room?_ I'm going to have to talk to him about that.

"Uhh…" I say, losing my train of thought as she shoves different bathing suits into my face.

"Pick one of those." She orders. She turns around and heads down the staircase. When I drop them on the floor, I hear her call up. "And I'll be checking you're wearing one!" Oh joy. I sigh and drop to my knees. All of them are bikinis. Well, except one, which is a tankini. I grab it and change fast, thinking about how the gang is going to tease relentlessly. I look at myself in the mirror. It was light blue with small diagonal green stripes. I shrug and put my clothes on over it. I call Cooper, who's sleeping on my bed, and we head downstairs, where Whitney immediately stands up.

"I'm wearing one, I'm wearing one!" I tell her grumpily. Whitney smiles, while Kit tries not to laugh. I glare at both of them, then march out the door, ignoring the two of them. I see that everyone except Ali and Hayley are out.

"Where are the other two?" I ask, pulling my hair up in a ponytail. Hi, Shelton, and Ben just shrug at me, but Kyle smirks, making me suspicious.

"You see, Alison decided that my dear sister had a horrible taste in bathing suits, and that she simply had to wear one of hers." Kyle seems fine with Hayley being tortured. Cooper lies down next to me, resting his head on his paws. I kneel down next to him and stroke him absently until I hear noise behind me.

"But I don't want to wear this," Hayley whines, most likely at her older sister.

"Too bad, you're wearing it. Bring Abby if it makes you feel better." Ali struts past me, coming to a stop next to Ben and turning to look at Hayley. I realize Ben is slightly taller than her.

"Can Abby come?" Hayley calls, I turn around to see her trying to kill Ali without actually touching her.

"Yeah, as long as she doesn't mind water." I call back, getting up. Hayley goes back to her house, reappearing a few seconds later with an excited Abby. Cooper jumps up, and Hayley comes to a stop next to me.

"We're going to the dock, right?" Ali checks, straightening her tank top.

"Yep," I reply. "Let's go." Ben and Hi start towards the dock, cueing us all to follow. I can hear the boys talking in front of us, while Ali starts to text. I look at Hayley and see she's having the same problem I am, Cooper and Abby are both straining to go faster.

"Do you want to let them off the leash?" I ask, struggling to not be dragged by Cooper. Hayley glances down worriedly.

"Will they be all right?" she asks, and I can see just how much she loved her dog. I nod.

"They'll be fine, there really isn't anywhere for them to go. I'm going to do it, though," I look at the small crowd in front of me. "Look out! Cooper is going to run free." Hayley considers it, then shrugs, then unclips Abby's leash as I do the same with Cooper's, and they run ahead of us. They swerve around the people blocking their escape, then run as fast as possible. Hayley watches them, then smirks at me and starts to sprint, throwing Abby's leash at Kyle. She bolts after the dogs and I grin and follow, but I decide to keep my leash.

I follow Hayley's path and go around the group, knowing they were watching Hayley and I. I chase Hayley, who can run _reall_y fast, but I can't catch up. Adrenaline surges through my veins as I try to reach her. Thank God I haven't-

**SNAP**

Dang it! I push myself to keep going even as my eyes shift to gold and I run faster, ignoring the pain. With my flare, I actually catch up. She turns to grin at me, then sees my golden eyes. She looks confused, but she ignores it and runs faster. In front of us, Abby and Cooper are waiting at the dock. I push myself further and catch up to Hayley, but I can't get ahead. We skid to a stop just before we hit the water.

**SNUP**

I turn to see Hayley breathing hard, sweat running down her neck. She grins at me.

"You can actually run." She says, pulling her hair up in a ponytail.

"Yeah, I can!" I say sarcastically, and she sticks her tongue out at me.

"You really are not mature, you know that, right?" I say, laughing and getting in the boat. She shrugs and helps get Cooper and Abby up.

"Never said I was," she replied, hauling herself into Sewee. She collapses onto the floor, and Abby goes over and starts licking her face. She pushes her dog off, but doesn't move off the floor.

"You going to get up?" I ask, nudging her with my foot. She rolls away from me.

"No, I'm too tired to care." She mumbles, closing her eyes. "Tell the others to not fall on me. I haven't run that fast in months. Jason was easy to beat, you weren't." I laugh again and turn to see the others approaching the boat.

"Be careful, Hayley's lying on the floor." They all give me confused expressions. By now, they're right next to the boat. "She's too lazy to get up."

"Yep," Hayley mutters, sitting up.

"Good job, now stay up." I tell her. She hits the back of my knee. I grab the railing to avoid collapsing from the surprise pain. "Hey that hurt!"

"Good, it was supposed to!" she says, dragging herself up and sitting on the railing as Abby walks over and lies down at her feet.

"You really are violent," I move away so that everyone else could board Sewee as she smiles sweetly at me. I roll my eyes as Ben goes to start the boat, and Hi, Shelton, and Kyle go join him. Kyle throws Abby's dark purple leash at Hayley, who snatches it from the air, then drops next to Abby. After a few minutes, Ali turns to me.

"Guess what?" she says, ignoring Hayley, who seems to know exactly what Ali is going to say and she wasn't going to like it one bit.

"What?" I ask, amused at Hayley's glare.

"I got Hayley into a bikini!" she sounds thrilled. I laugh and see Hayley give a sigh of relief.

"What?" I turn towards her.

"I thought she was going to tell you about our conversation." I look at her confusedly, but she shakes her head.

"What was it about?" I ask curious.

"Nothing," she says quickly. She looks at the boys in the front and I watch her lock her gaze on Shelton, "Nothing at all."

"We're here!" Ben calls out to us, and Hayley quickly looks down.

"Kay!" I shout back. I can see Ali smirking at us. I'm about to say something to her, but Hayley starts first.

"Where is 'here' exactly?" she questions.

"'Here' is Turtle Beach on Loggerhead." I reply.

"Okay, so can I swim now?" she asks impatiently, realizing beach meant swimming. I laugh and nod, attracting the attention of the boys. I watch as she pulls off her t-shirt and shorts and step onto the railing. I notice that Ali was successful in getting Hayley in a bikini. It's a purple halter top, which, admittedly, could be much worse. Bouncing lightly, she prepares to dive, but Kyle sneaks behind her and pushes her in. She shrieks and falls, twisting around so she hits the water on her back. We all start cracking up, until she comes back up for air. Kyle was leaning on the rail, laughing, but she reaches up and yanks his shirt sleeve hard, causing him to tumble in after her.

"Ha! Take that!" she yells at him when he comes back up. Kyle rolls his eyes but swims away. Hayley then turns to us in the boat, treading water. "Are you coming in?" she asks. I nod, and undress quickly, feeling eyes on me. I jump into the water and the heat is immediately reduced. It feels really good. I watch as Ali jumps in, and then as Ben makes sure the boat won't drift off. Then the last three jump in too. I see Abby and Cooper still on board, wrestling playfully. Suddenly, water is splashed into my face. I shake my head and see Hayley smirking at me.

"That was fun!" she says, splashing me again. I dive under water, grab her ankle, and pull, causing her to go under. Instead of going back to the surface, she turns and swims towards Ali. Ali, completely oblivious, screams as Hayley jerks her down. Everyone looks over as Hayley brakes the surface, gasping for air, and Ali starts screaming at her.

"Really, Hayley? My poor hair!" Hayley responds my shoving more water in her face. She cackles and swims backward, away from Ali. She crashes into Ben, who smirks and shoves her underwater again. She swims back up, only for Ben, Kyle, and me to splash her simultaneously. She frowns, then dives under. _Where did she go?_

Suddenly, Kyle yells and backs up. Hayley comes up, clutching her head. She glares at Kyle.

"Ow, you kicked me in the head you jerk!" she splashes him, and then latches onto his back. "Piggy back ride!" she yells excitedly. Kyle ducks under, but Hayley stays latched on. Shelton comes up behind her and pulls her off, causing her to spin into Hi, who was farther out, staying away from the craziness. She sticks her tongue out at Shelton, who grins at her as Hi moves away from the annoyed girl. I smirk until I feel someone push me forward. I crash into Ben, and I swim away quickly as I feel my face burn. I whirl around to find Hi smirking at me, and I glare at him, and then focus my attention on Hayley, who's next to Hi. She notices me looking and waves, smirking.

"You're dead, Gold!" I yell over the water at her.

"Doubt it!" she calls back. I duck under and swim towards her, only to see her disappear. I look around, confused. _Where did she go now?_

Suddenly, a giant blob lands right next to me, pushing me away. I reach the surface to find Hayley treading water next to me. She sees my confused expression and points to the boat I'm five feet away from. _Oh, well that explains it_ I think. Hayley swims away, but a few seconds later, I hear Ali scream. I whip around fast enough to see Hayley sink under the water, eyes closed and unconscious.

**Whatcha think? Do you like it? Review! It would give me something to be happy about during the Math MCAS.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I don't own Virals**

For a moment, the six of us stare at the tiny bubbles that show where Hayley had been. Then Ali screams again and the silence is broken.

I start to swim towards Hayley but Kyle and Ben are closer. As they duck under, I realize something. Hayley sank under the boat.

"She's under the boat!" I scream, and I see Ben break the surface as he figures it out too.

"It's drifting away, the anchor line broke!" he tells us. How long could she survive down there? Ali swims over and resumes screaming hysterically. I shush her as I see Ben get in the boat. _Couldn't that hurt her more?_ I think, but then I see Kyle's head pop up. He pulls Hayley up his arm secure around her waist as he tugs her out of the reach of the boat.

"Get in! We can't anchor the boat cause of the broken line, we're going to have to go back to Morris." Ben steadies the boat and motions for us to get on. I swim over and grab the edge of the boat, heaving myself over into Sewee and startling Cooper. Reaching down, I link my arms under Hayley's and help Kyle lift her onto the boat. Sinking to my knees, I gently place Hayley's head on the wooden boards as Kyle jumps in to the boat and drops down on her other side. I back away slightly as Ali runs to take my place next to Hayley.

"She didn't take in that much water!" Kyle says frantically, just as Hayley's eyes flutter open. Her brother sighs, relieved, as Hayley turns onto her side and starts coughing up water. Once she's done coughing up practically the entire ocean, she looks up. And what I see is not good.

Hayley's eyes are bright gold. Kyle and Ali don't see it, they're too busy being relieved. But Ben and I see it, and when Shelton and Hi get on board, they see it too. Both pale considerably. I meet her eyes and see the terror in them, and I know that she's scared about what's going on and why she has heightened senses. And I don't blame her one bit. I watch as her eyes fade back to their normal blueish gray. She turns to her sister.

"What happened?" she rasps, sitting up and looking around. Hi throws her a bottle of water and she grabs it. Opening it, she drinks about half, then re-closes it and looks around again. "Why does everyone look scared?"

"Because you nearly died you idiot!" Ali cries, throwing her arms around Hayley and hugging her tightly. Hayley hugs her back, and then looks up again.

"I did? I don't remember nearly dying." She says, extracting herself from her sister's grip. "How?"

"You passed out and sank under the boat." Ben tells her, letting the boat drift and sitting down next to me.

"Oh," she says, thinking. "I can't remember the last five minutes. It's kind of creepy." She smiles weakly at us all, but I can tell she's confused and scared. Kyle scoots next to her, and she leans against him.

"Just take it easy," he reminds her, holding her against him gently. She nods and puts her head on his shoulder. Abby breaks through the circle and bounds up to Hayley, sitting on her lap and shoving her gently with her muzzle. Hayley laughs, but it looks hard for her, and hugs Abby tightly.

"It's okay, sweetie." She tells her, dripping water on Abby's back. Abby doesn't seem to care. Abby turns around in Hayley's lap and looks at us all. After a few moments of her critiquing us, she lies down next to Hayley, who strokes her back gently. She looks back up at us. Hayley starts to stand up, but quickly sits back down, looking worse than before. Breathing heavily, she closes her eyes and leans back against the side of the boat.

"Can we-" she coughs violently, shaking even in the warm air. "Can we go back to Morris?" she gets out weakly. Ben nods quickly and gets back up, walking to the boat's wheel and turns it around, pointing the Sewee towards Morris. Ali stays next to her sister, not saying anything. Kyle is talking quickly, rubbing Hayley's back. Hayley's eyes are still closed, but she nods once in a while. I look up as Hi plops down next to me, looking more worried than I've seen him in months.

"We have a new problem." Hi sighs unhappily has he states the fact. "Hayley has the mutt virus."

"How the hell did she get it?" I ask, looking at the blond girl. "She hasn't been to bunker, where Cooper was kept, she hasn't been to any of our houses, where we were all sick, and even if she had been to any of those places she shouldn't have gotten it!" I run a hand through my red hair. "We bleached _everything_ after we were sick. And neither Kyle nor Ali seem to have it. When we were exposed to the virus, not one of us missed it. If she has, so should they." Hi looks at the three Golds.

"It took a while for the virus to get to Ben, maybe that's what's happening." Hi sounds doubtful. I shake my head as Shelton sits down on my other side.

"I don't know what the heck is going on, but it's pretty obvious that the other two don't have it. Cover me," I say quickly, looking down and pulling my hair out of its ponytail, letting it fall forward to cover my face.

I think of junior deb tonight, how I'm going to have to face Jason and the tripod. I go back to all the times the tripod had made fun of me before I had shown Madison up. The effect was instantaneous.

**SNAP**

Sounds and smells flood my senses, and my eyes sharpen so that I can see every hair on my legs. I let the pain go away before I close my eyes and start searching. I go inside myself and find my wolf half, finding the golden threads that attach me to the rest of the Virals.

I'm in the middle, with four, thick, golden threads connecting me to the rest of the pack. Hi and Shelton's threads are short, letting me read their thoughts extremely easily if I had wanted to. Ben's is slightly longer, connecting to the figure driving the boat, while Cooper's goes to the curled up ball at my feet. Faint whispers surround me, thoughts from the pack if I really wanted to invade their privacy. But then I hear a soft voice I don't recognize. I quickly latch into it.

It is Hayley's. Concentrating, I can see the faint thread connecting her. It isn't really a thread though, it's like a faintly glowing path, only there if you really concentrate. Her thoughts come to me slowly, as if we have a bad connection and static is in the way. A glow catches my eye and I look to the left, confused at what I saw.

Another glowing path leads to the space next to Hayley, and a figure slowly comes into view. Abby. The border collie must have picked up the virus to. The golden path solidifies and shortens, slowly drawing closer to me. I stare at it in confusion. Why was it getting shorter-"

_Woof!_

**SNUP**

I jerk back, losing the flare as Abby's face is suddenly in front of mine. Still somewhat jittery from adrenaline, I rub Abby's head thoughtfully, trying to sort my thoughts.

"Morris is in sight!" Ben's voice floats into my head, breaking my concentration. I shake my head and get up, shoving Abby off of me. Ben docks the boat, checking twice to make sure the boats steady, then jumps off with Abby and Cooper. Shelton and Hi follow quickly, and Ali clambers after them. Hayley rises slowly, looking better than her first attempt. She climbs down slowly, holding her clothes close to her chest. Kyle's arm is still around her shoulders. I hop down quickly, jogging to catch up. Hayley sees me and grins shakily.

"Do you think I'll get out of junior deb?" she asks, still smiling. Then the smile falls off her face. "How are we going to explain this to Aunt Carol?" Kyle's face looks stricken.

"Crap, I forgot about her," he says nervously. "I guess we just flat out tell her?" He glances down at his younger sister. She nods, looking exhausted.

"Hurry up!" Ali's annoyed voice cuts through the air at our little group. "We need to tell Aunt Carol!"

"I better go," I realize how late it is. "Kit has to drive me to junior deb." Kyle looks at me.

"You're doing that? I have to do that too. Ali and Hayley also, but I bet Hayley won't have too." Hayley smiles again.

"Sweet," she says quietly.

"Come on!"

"I have to go, see you later!" I call over my shoulder, running past Ali to the three boys and Cooper.

"What did you do? On the boat?" Shelton asks immediately. Ben and Hi look at me curiously.

"Hayley has it, so does Abby." I say simply, and all three start yelling at once.

"How the heck does she have it?"

"Abby too?"

"Great, more problems."

"I have to go, we can talk about it tomorrow." I turn away from the boys.

"Tomorrow after school," Shelton reminds me. I groan, remembering that fact.

"Have fun at junior deb!" Hi yells at me. I roll my eyes and whistle for Cooper, who comes running to me, barreling past me into the house. Sighing I follow my wolf dog into my home.

**I meant to make this longer, but I have to wake up at four tomorrow, so I want to sleep. I promise next chapter will be cotillion. Review! **

5


	10. Chapter 10

**I don't own Virals, or Thriving Ivory.**

The moment I enter the house I'm attacked.

"Where have you been? We only have fifteen minutes until cotillion starts! Oh, we're going to be late!" Whitney frets, hurrying up to me. Kit leans in the kitchen doorway behind her. "Go upstairs and get ready, now!" I glare at the blond and open my mouth to tell her she's not my mother, but Kit silences me with a look. Closing my mouth, I turn on my heel and stalk up the stairs. Resisting the urge to slam my bedroom door, I shut it gently and go to my closet. As I predicted, the green dress was hanging, waiting for me to wear it.

Sighing, I look down at myself and realize I should probably shower. Taking out the dress, I lay it down on my bed then hurry to the bathroom. I shower quickly then pull on the dress. I turn and look at myself critically in the mirror. The halter top circles my neck and the fabric clings to my waist before falling to the floor in folds. Darker green, almost black designs cover the skirt of the dress. I grab a brush and yank it through my hair, trying to make the wet hair to cooperate and lie flat instead of exploding outward.

"Tory, are you almost done?" Whitney's voice calls, and I roll my eyes before grabbing a hair tie and shoving my hair back. There, it wasn't perfect but it would have to do. Hopefully it would be good enough for Whitney.

"Yeah, I'm coming down!" I yell back. Rooting through my closet, I find what I'm looking for, black flats I knew Whitney had put there. Slipping into them, I grab my phone and run down the stairs, stopping to hug Cooper on my way down. Walking into the hall, I see Whitney waiting impatiently and Kit looking bored.

"You're down. Finally! Come on!" Whitney grabs my arm and pulls me out the door.

"Aren't the Gold's coming? Are we waiting for them?" I yank my arm out of her grasp.

"Actually, they're driving you," Kit comes up behind me. "The boy, Kyle, offered to." I turn to look at them.

"So, you're not driving me?" I ask, looking at their nodding faces. I smile, "Cool, so I have to go see them now, right?"

"Yep, have fun!" Kit tells me as I start towards our neighbors.

"Sure," I mutter, picking up my pace. Seeing the Gold's door, I jump up the stairs and knock. A few seconds later, Hayley opens the door, wearing pajama pants and a hoodie. She smiles weakly at me, and gestures for me to come in.

"Hey, you got out of it," I say, taking in her attire. Hayley nods.

"Yeah, but I'm still tired, and bored, plus they're going to be late to the dance, and Aunt Carol is freaking out. My mission at the moment is to keep her away from Kyle and Ali. Right now, that means making her look after Belle." Hayley collapses on a couch.

"Fun," I reply, sitting down on a chair opposite her. Hayley looks at me, then smirks.

"Ali is going to freak when she sees you." Hayley stretches, still smirking. I look at her confusedly.

"Huh?" I lean back, feeling the base of my ponytail digging into my head. I turn my head a little bit.

"You aren't wearing makeup, and your hair is in a ponytail. According to Ali, that just isn't fashionable enough." Hayley says knowingly.

"How do you know that?" I wonder. Hayley shrugs.

"I've done it before." She grabs a blanket and wraps it around herself.

"Are you, okay from earlier?" I ask hesitantly, not sure if she'll talk about it. Her face darkens slightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just…confused. For a few seconds, I could see everything perfectly, hear everything easily, and could feel every wooden board under me. Is that weird?" Hayley looks down, fiddling with the end of the blanket.

"That is weird, I've never heard of anything like that." I lie, hoping she doesn't realize it. "I-"

"I'm done!" A bubbly voice floats down the stairs, and a moment later, Ali poses at the bottom of them. Her dark blue dress settles around her. Her auburn hair is pulled away from her face and falls down her back in waves. Blue heels adorn her feet as she skips into the room. She looks at the two of us. Her eyes fall on me and they widen.

"Tory, your hair! That just won't do!" She reaches for my arm when Hayley jerks it back.

"Ali, are you ok?" Hayley looks confused.

"Yes, of course, why do you ask?" Ali spins in a circle, her dress fanning out around her.

"Um, you usually wear makeup." I look closer at the girl and realize she wasn't. Ali's excited look falls off her face.

"Oh my god, I completely forgot! How did I forget? I have to go fix it!" She starts to run up the stairs, and then turns around. "Tory, you need to come with me, you need help." I feel the horror show in my face, and Ali sees it.

"Come on, it won't be that bad!" she shifts on her feet impatiently. I feel Hayley take a deep breath.

"Do you want me to do it, Ali?" I spin around and stare at the girl. She ignores me, and focuses in Ali's surprised face.

"You want to do her hair and makeup?" Ali asks suspiciously. Hayley nods.

"I can do it; you've tortured me enough with it." Ali, nods slowly, then flips her hair and goes back upstairs. Hayley pushes me after her.

"I can't believe the idiot forgot makeup, she must have been more worried than I thought." Hayley mutters to herself as she continues nudging me forward.

"Are you crazy?" I ask her as I'm being propelled up the stairs. "Are you sick? Feeling dizzy, hallucinating, feeling like you want to throw up?" Hayley shoves me harder and I trip.

"Shut up, I'm doing you a favor; you don't want my sister near your hair. She's good at it, but she's too picky. And she'll take forever." She stops in front of Ali's room. Telling me to not move, she slips in quickly, then comes out holding a bulging shopping bag. Grabbing me arm, she drags me up to her room and makes me sit on her desk chair. She stares at me for a minute.

"What?" I ask, breaking the silence. Hayley shrugs.

"I have no idea what to do with you. I honestly didn't think Ali would let me." Hayley stares for a moment, until she smiles. "I know exactly what to do with you."

"Should I be scared?" I watch as she turns the bag over and everything tumbles out of it. She grabs a hair straightener. Using her foot, she shoves the chair towards the bathroom. I grab the seat to avoid falling. Hayley positions me in front of the mirror, then plugs in the straightener. Putting it down, she turns to me.

"Maybe." She sits on the edge of the counter. After a few seconds of silence, she gets up and goes back to her room. A moment later, music starts to pulse from her laptop.

"What is this?" I ask her as she comes back, holding a hair clip. She checks to see how hot the iron is and deems it hot enough. Putting most of my red hair into the clip, she picks up the straightener and starts on my hair.

"Thriving Ivory. I love them. It's on shuffle, just so you know." She finishes with that chunk of hair and takes out another piece. I watch as my crazy, hopeless tangle of hair slowly becomes straight, making me look completely different. Hayley looks lost in thought.

"How did you learn how to use this?" I glance at her, trying not to move my head. Hayley looks at me.

"Is it really that hard to believe that I know how to use a flat iron?" she says, exasperated as she starts on the last piece of curly hair.

"Yes!" I watch as the hot metal glides down my hair slowly, until Hayley yanks out the plug and puts down the iron. She looks behind her for a moment then returns with bobby pins. She shoves them into my hair, and it doesn't fall back in my face.

"What do you think?" she asks as she criticizes me. Looking, in the mirror, I realize just how different I look. I've never seen my hair flat in my life.

"I think I like it." I reply, still staring. I'm suddenly almost flung off the seat as Hayley turns the chair around.

"And now, I am going to be cliché or whatever and not let you see your face until I work my most likely nonexistent magic." She announces as she goes back to the contents on her desk. Finding what she wants, she comes back and dumps them on the counter. Picking up a brush, she starts on my face. I close my eyes and let her so my makeup.

"Open your eyes and look up." Hayley instructs. I open my eyes warily to find her standing over me with a black pencil in her hand.

"Do you really know how to use that?" I roll my eyes toward the ceiling and feel the eyeliner pencil press down on the edge of my eye. She moves to my second eye, and the pencil comes back down. Satisfied with her work, the pencil is thrown onto the counter. She turns around and comes back with a tube of mascara.

"Obviously, I do." She unscrews the mascara tube and points the brush at me. "Look back up."

I settle back into the chair and let her finish. She steps back a few minutes later and criticizes me again. She opens her mouth, but is interrupted.

"Hayley, are you done yet?" Ali's voice slams into my ears.

"Chill, I'm finishing up!" Hayley shouts back. She turns back to me, smiling. "I think I did a pretty amazing job." She grabs the back of the chair and turns it around. I open my eyes and stare.

"I can't believe you know how to do any of this." I stare at my face, not quite taking in what I'm seeing. My lids were covered in dark eye shadow, making my eyes look bigger. Light blush covered my cheeks and mascara coated my lashes. I continue to stare until Hayley pushes the chair out of the bathroom.

"Come on, before Ali explodes." I get up and walk towards the door, Hayley bouncing excitedly behind me. Hurrying down the stairs, I get pushed into the hallway. Ali is leaning against the wall, waiting for us. She stands up straight as we come in.

"Well, I don't hate it." Ali tells Hayley as she inspects my hair. "I think she'll be fine. Hayley, I am impressed." She turns toward the kitchen. "Kyle, get out here! It's time to go!"

Kyle slowly walks into the room, looking like he would rather run away. Ali, however, grabs his wrist and starts to drag him towards the door. He stumbles after her while Hayley and I watch.

"I guess that's my cue to leave." I look at Hayley, who's smirking at her brother's back.

"Have fun." Hayley walks across the hall and collapses on the living room couch. Curling up into a ball, she watches as I follow the siblings to Kyle's car. Slipping into the back of Kyle's dark blue car, I buckle my seat belt as Kyle backs out carefully of the driveway and starts towards civilization.

"Where's the dance?" Kyle asks, keeping his eyes on the road. Ali takes out her phone.

"White Point Gardens, south Charleston." Ali lowers her phone. She turns to me. "What is junior deb like?" I shrug.

"It has food, ballroom dancing, stuff like that." I look out the window. "What time is it?"

"Six twenty." Kyle says distractedly, leaving Morris Island. I lean back and look out the window as we drive. The sun is in the middle of the sky.

"We're here." Kyle says unenthusiastically, parking his car in the parking lot. Ali jumps out, slamming the door behind her, and rushes to the party, leaving me and Kyle to get there ourselves. Kyle locks the car and we walk to the pavilion.

A giant pavilion looms in front of us as we slowly made our way to the crowd. Flickering lights are hung from the ceiling, and a wooden dance floor is right in the center. Small gazebos are scattered around it, small paths leading to them. A buffet is on the far side of the open room, laden with fancy dishes.

"What do we have to do?" Kyle asks me quietly as we get closer to the mass of people. "I don't know any of them." I laugh.

"You'll be fine, the girls will immediately like you. You're new, and you're actually somewhat good looking." I elbow him and he gives a small smile in return, shoving me back.

"Somewhat good looking? I am amazingly handsome." He stops and poses, making me laugh.

"Do you know how to slow dance?" I ask, walking ahead. He hurries to catch up.

"Like, the standing still slow dances at high school dances, or actual ballroom dancing? Cause the answer to both is that I suck at it." He looks at me. "Wait, do we have to-" He cuts off as I nod. "Oh no, I'm going to die. I'm escaping while I can." I smirk and grab his sleeve as he tries to run.

"Oh no. If I can do it, then so can you. Come on, we're already here." I pull him up into the pavilion. The light is brighter here, illuminating the area as the sun goes down. "Anyway, no one here hates you; about half the people here hate me. So you'll be fine."

Kyle reluctantly turns around, running a hand through his hair. "Why do half the people here hate you?" he asks me as we sub-consciously navigate through the crowd. In my peripheral vision I see people turn to look at the new kid next to me, but we both ignore it, steadily making our way to the buffet.

"I'm not rich, fashionable, or popular. And I embarrassed the three most popular girls, specifically their leader, Madison. Oh, and I yelled at one of the most popular boy when I was super stressed. But the rest of the school doesn't know that." I add hastily. "You'd probably like him, he's into sports."

"What's his name?" Kyle swerves to avoid a waiter.

"Jason Taylor." I see Ali talking to the trio.

"Wait, the boy who drove Hayley home?" he remembers. "The blond one." I smile at his description.

"Yep, that's him." We reach the buffet table and get in line.

"Oh yeah, I do like him. He beat Hayley, so of course I like him." I laugh and start to fill my plate. "Wait, what's this?"

"That's a crab cake." I tell him, moving down the table. He shrugs and puts it on his plate. We move away from the line of food and head to two the empty chairs on the edges of the pavilion.

"OK, which group of girls are the three popularist?" he asks. "Wait, is it those three?"

"Popularist?" I ask, amused. "And no, they aren't. Guess again." I take a bite of fancy chicken while Kyle scans the crowd.

"Those ones? Wait, there are four of them. No, those four, the ones Ali is with." He guesses while shoving a crab cake into his mouth. "These actually aren't that bad." I roll my eyes.

"Bingo." I finish my chicken. "And over there is Jason." Kyle turns his head to see.

"Hey, do you like Jason?" He gives his empty plate to a passing waiter. I decide to play dumb.

"I don't hate him, he's kind of a friend." I fiddle with my fork, skirting the subject.

"No, do you like like Jason?" He turns to look at me. I raise an eyebrow.

"Like like? Is that the official term now?" I ask, trying to avoid my answer. Now he raises his eyebrows at me.

"Why yes, it is. And I ask because he keeps glancing over here at you. I obviously don't matter. And look, he's coming over. And I don't think he's noticed me yet." I place my half empty plate on a table beside me.

"Hey Tory. You're Kyle, right?" Jason extends a hand to Kyle, who shakes it and confirms he is, in fact, Kyle. Jason turns to me, and I see the trio coming towards us. I notice Ali isn't with them anymore.

"Skanks at twelve o'clock." I mutter, and Jason hears me. He glances over his shoulder.

"It'll be fine, you sent Madison packing last time." Jason turns back to us.

"Hi Jason," Madison slides into our conversation, Courtney and Ashley following. "And who are you?" she asks Kyle, looking him up and down. "I've never seen you before." Kyle shrugs.

"I'm new. I'm Kyle Gold." Kyle says, looking at the three girls. Madison's eyes widen slightly.

"As in, Ali's brother?" Ashley asks, smoothing the non-existing wrinkles from her dark red dress. Kyle nods.

"The one and only." He tells them, leaning back in his chair. Courtney giggles and I roll my eyes.

"Hello," I say sweetly, and Ashley narrows her eyes at me. Madison resolutely ignores me.

"Maybe I'll see you later." She flips her hair as she smiles as Kyle, who smiles back slightly.

"Maybe," he says as they walk away. "I'm going to get more food." Kyle gets up and maneuvers through the crowd away from us.

"See, they just ignored you. It went fine." Jason sits down in Kyle's empty seat. I look down at my hands as the silence between us thickens.

"Jason, I'm sorry for when I yelled at you in the bathroom at the country club. I was just kind of stressed." I break the silence, desperate to say something. Jason smiles slightly.

"It's fine, you liked kind of sick then. Forget about it." He tells me, taking his weight of his elbows and leaning back.

"Are you sure?" I look up at him.

"It's fine, forget about it." He repeats. I smile hesitantly at him.

"I've been meaning to ask you a question." He says.

"What is it?" I probe cautiously.

"Are you wearing makeup?" I stare at him confused by the sudden topic change, then nod slowly.

"Yeah, I was deemed unpresentable without it." I confess, getting up and stretching. I feel my cell buzz. "I'll be right back." I tell him as I slip outside and sit in an empty gazebo.

"Yes?" I ask the person on the phone distractedly.

"Tory? It's Hayley. Do you know where Ali is?" Hayley's voice is tight, like she was containing a scream.

"Hayley? What's wrong?" I press the phone closer to me ear.

"It's Belle, she's sick. And Ali won't answer her freaking phone." Hayley sounds like she's trying not to cry, too. Warning bells go off in my head.

"OK, I'll tell her. Is… is everything alright?" My question makes Hayley start to sniffle.

"Just, tell Kyle to check his phone, OK?"

"Of course. I'll go do it right now."

"Thanks. Of god, come on Belle…" I end the call and rush back to the pavilion, shoving through the crowd, searching for Kyle. And I realize I'm going to have a much harder time than I thought.

Kyle is dancing with Madison.

Right in the middle of the dance floor.

Gritting my teeth, I step to the edge of the floor. Taking a breath, I start weaving through the disgruntled dancers as I keep my eyes trained on Kyle and Madison. I reach them and tap on Kyle's shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" Madison's snarky tone makes a bubble of annoyance rise, but I shove it aside.

"Check your phone." I tell Kyle shortly. "Hayley needs to talk to you." Turning on my heel, I stalk off the dance floor, ignoring stares. I look for the rest of the tripod, guessing Ali will be with them. My guess is right.

Ali stands with a drink in her hand, talking to Ashley and Courtney. She starts to laugh, and I find myself dreading to tell her to find the bad news, whatever it is. Shoving my discomfort away, I march up to two thirds of the tripod and tell Ali.

"Ali, Hayley wants you to check your phone." I am shoved aside as Kyle comes to a halt next to us, Madison following slowly. Ali looks at both of us confusedly.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Ashley asks as he pauses to breath.

"Ali, we have to leave." Kyle gets out between gasping breaths.

"Why? What's happened?" Ali reaches for her phone, sliding her finger across the screen.

"Belle is in the hospital."

**I don't really like this chapter, but I wanted to end it, so here it is.**

**I'm sorry for not updating for the past month, but I've been finishing up school, which has been crazy. But now summers here! So I'll try to update at least once a week.**

**One more thing. In Seizure, it says Tory is supposed to be in this thing called a cohort for cotillion. But since I have no idea what that is, just pretend she's not supposed to be in that.**

**Please review, I want to know what I can fix.**

**Bye!**


End file.
